The Blue Pacific. NOT!

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The Blue Pacific. NOT!

At least not until today. For the first days of the cruise, we had misty, cloudy and rainy weather and the water reflected the grey skies. The rains on Guadalcanal turned the sea brown with run off. Flotsam and jetsam fouled the water with large logs, palm fronds, plastic water bottles and aluminum cans. Those folks who chose to dive Iron Bottom Sound must have been disappointed.
When we left the dock last night I counted twelve interisland vessels (think tramp steamers) waiting to dock. The vessels don’t look seaworthy but are essential to trade between the islands. They also provide ferry service between the islands although those folks who work on Guadalcanal and live on neighbor islands although there is also interisland air service to those who can afford it. Our tour guides live on Guadalcanal during the week and fly to their home island for weekends and holidays.
Today, the sun is blazing and the Pacific is a beautiful cobalt blue. The Solomons bracket the ship as we make our way to Bougainville where Uncle Joe fought with Company C, 129th infantry.
Just after afternoon tea, the watch of the day announced that an object west spotted to starboard and we were coming around to take a look. It was white an appeared to be an oblong. When we got close enough to get a good look it turned out to be a cylindrical white object that had been floating on one side for considerable time. A lifeboat was lowered and the crew took a closer look. I heard that it was a pontoon from a dock that had broken away. My guess was that it was part of an alien booster rocket. The cruise director announced that it was a prototype of the latest Starbucks innovation in floating latte stations. We joked but were all thankful it wasn’t a lifeboat of

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